World premiere of "Babygirl" in Venice An affair, many orgasms and brutal power games

Bruno Bötschi

1.9.2024

"Babygirl" is about an affair and the resulting power games between a successful CEO, played by Nicole Kidman, and her intern (Harris Dickinson).
"Babygirl" is about an affair and the resulting power games between a successful CEO, played by Nicole Kidman, and her intern (Harris Dickinson).
Image: Niko Tavernise

In "Babygirl", Nicole Kidman plays a CEO who has an affair with her intern, putting her marriage at risk. The erotic thriller hits the nerve of the times, but the story doesn't feel authentic.

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • "Babygirl" is about an affair and the resulting power games between a successful CEO and her intern.
  • Nicole Kidman plays the lead role convincingly, courageously and shamelessly - and she is joined by Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde and Antonio Banderas.
  • The film was directed by Dutch director Halina Reijn, who recently caused a stir with the horror comedy "Bodies Bodies Bodies".

"Good Girl" says the intern to his CEO as she drinks the glass of milk he has just ordered for her at the company aperitif because she usually drinks too much coffee.

This is by no means a common tone between employees in these positions, but how did it get this far?

Nicole Kidman plays Romy Mathis, CEO of a modern company in the AI sector.

About the author: Gianluca Izzo
blue News

Gianluca Izzo is reporting directly from the Venice Film Festival 2024. He has regularly attended the renowned festivals in Cannes, Venice and Berlin in recent years and worked in the film industry himself for several years. Today he works for blue Entertainment in program planning.

She does her job extremely successfully, efficiently and confidently and in her private life she leads a tranquil family life with her husband (Antonio Banderas) and their two daughters.

Sex games turn into power struggles

But she is not really happy because her husband is unable to bring her to orgasm during sex - not once in 20 years of marriage.

When Mathis is introduced to the company's new interns, the handsome Samuel immediately makes a lasting impression on her with a provocative question.

He also chooses her as a mentor for his training program. The CEO soon realizes that not only she can help him, but also he can help her - in a slightly different way, of course.

While Romy Mathis is finally able to live out her sexual fantasies, she also puts herself in great danger. The steamy sex games suddenly turn into bitter power struggles. Not only her job, but also her relationship with her family is in danger of being destroyed.

"Babygirl" is stylish, provocative, wild and sexy

Halina Reijn's erotic thriller hits the nerve of the times with its story and addresses highly topical issues: The career woman, equality in the world of work, dealing with sexuality, gender issues.

The story has an exciting structure, contains one or two good surprises and also includes humorous dialog. The atmosphere created by the film and the visual realization are also outstanding. "Babygirl" is stylish, provocative, wild and sexy.

Cool electronic music with pumping beats accompanies the movie and gets the pulse racing. However, "Babygirl" as a whole leaves a somewhat bland impression.

Nicole Kidman plays her part fabulously - no question about it

Maybe it's because it makes you feel ashamed from time to time and is unintentionally funny. Nicole Kidman plays her part fabulously - no question about it.

It's remarkable how she transforms from a confident, self-determined leader figure to a frightened, doubting personality.

But the very fact that a supposedly so independently successful businesswoman needs a whole 20 years to solve her sexual problems is somewhat questionable.

And Harris Dickinson, known from "Triangle of Sadness", undoubtedly looks good, but in the role of the young sexual savior who educates Kidman with little BDSM games, he somehow doesn't come across as entirely convincing either.

Despite some shortcomings and question marks, "Babygirl" is an exciting, provocative and hot movie that is likely to be talked about a lot in the future.


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